An increasing number of people are taking advantage of on-line access to and storage of digital records collections, such as digital image collections. By using any of a number of various tools that allow access to images and other records on-line, a user has enhanced opportunities for enjoying, sharing, and using images.
One advantage of digital image storage relates to the amount of information that can be stored in and be associated with the digital image data. This information includes increasing amounts of metadata that are being made available with digital image records obtained from today's digital cameras. For example, digital image records currently obtained from a digital camera often have accompanying metadata that describes date, time, and location of images captured, such as from GPS data obtained by the camera. This information can also include conditions under which the image was obtained and photographer identification, and can even have various data about the image content itself. Standard information data fields or “tags” that can accompany a digital image record are defined, for example, in the Digital Still Camera Image File Format Standard, also termed the EXchangeable Image File or EXIF Standard, v.2.1, from the Japan Electronic Industry Development Association (JEIDA) CP-3451.
Semantic information that can be obtained as metadata for a digital image record can include various information obtained from objects in the image, including data from image analysis tools known in the art, such as various software applications providing scene analysis, object detection and recognition, or face detection and recognition. It has been recognized that this capability to extract semantic information can be useful, for example, in targeted marketing. This capability allows a retailer to present products that may have special appeal to an audience that has effectively been “pre-screened” according to images that are owned and viewed by individual members of that audience. That is, targeted marketing aims to identify and reach “pre-screened” consumers who are likely to have a high level of interest in specific products and services. Image analysis tools provide another way for marketers of products and services to perform effective pre-screening and to respond to customer interests in a more accurate manner than might otherwise be available using other marketing tools.
In a more general sense, the capability to extract content information from within and metadata associated with a digital image record can help to enhance a user's overall enjoyment of digital images. By obtaining information related to images, a computer application can make some reasonable inferences about the user and can use these inferences to offer other opportunities to the user for functions that access related digital content. This can include a range of opportunities for increased viewing enjoyment, enhanced social interaction, and enhanced marketing for items or services that are of particular interest.
Conventional methods for targeted marketing and for access to related digital content do not provide ways to offer enhanced opportunities that adapt readily to different image content and allow only a minimum of user interaction with image content. Accordingly, there is an ongoing need for additional or improved techniques for providing user access to digital content that is related to a viewed image.